The realities of life with a spouse in medical residency and fellowship at MGH/Dana-Farber.

Married to Medicine

Friday, April 1, 2011

Lawyer Clothes to Mommy Clothes...

Back in February of 2009 I spent twelve increasingly glorious days believing I had accidentally become pregnant. When it all came crashing down, I was left with one thought only: It was time to start trying.

But it wouldn't be until Christmas morning at the very end of that year that I'd finally find out I was pregnant. For one thing, at my age then (28/29) it takes an average of 6 months of trying to conceive. For another, my husband and I lived apart for five months while he started residency in Boston and I continued at my law firm in St. Louis, saving up money so we could make the move. When my husband left for Boston that June and I still wasn't pregnant, I became pretty severely depressed. Suddenly I was alone in a city far from my parents or husband, and putting aside that monthly hope of a baby for another half year - just as I was developing a growing paranoia of infertility. The months seemed like eons...

And through all those 2009 months, I bought zero articles of clothing; I assumed I would soon be pregnant and my body would change. During my pregnancy, I only bought maternity clothing (for obvious reasons) and only from Motherhood Maternity - and only about $100 worth (highly recommend a summer pregnancy - cheaper!). Simple enough. In September of 2010 I finally gave birth to little M, and sometime that November I stopped looking like I was still five months pregnant with him (this is no exaggeration). Since that time, I still haven't purchased any non-maternity clothing. Laziness? Hard to try things on with a baby in tow? Perpetually waiting to lose a little more of that baby weight? Yeah. But also... it's been over two years since I purchased any non-maternity clothes. The big question is:

Where do I shop now???

All 3+ years that I practiced law, I shopped at only one store: Ann Taylor. I've always been one to prefer owning fewer things but loving the few things I own, and if you really know that store, you can get great deals and never pay full price for anything. Also, I need petites, and Ann Taylor has them. I knew exactly my size there, everything fit perfectly.

But let me tell you. My cute little work sweaters are all collecting dust. For one thing, they still don't fit right... and may never fit right. For another thing, cotton/silk blends and cashmere (on sale!!) isn't the kind of thing you can get spit-up on every day.

So now I'm at a loss. Where do I shop??

I finally went to the mall with my mother. Out of habit, I tried Ann Taylor first. Ha. Not a single "Mommy" item to be found. We then went to "New York & Co." In the entire store I found a hoodie and matching tank top. I figured those would work, and it was buy-one-get-one half off.

But wearing them, I felt so .... odd. Would my mom have shopped at this store? I mean I was never that cool ever, and now I'm too old to be cool AND a mom.

The new "Mommy" shirt. Luckily M doesn't care what I look like!

Am I doomed to Lands End???

Today we're trying Ann Taylor Loft. Fingers crossed... although we don't have one near us in Boston.

4 comments:

Oh man, can I ever relate to this! I can usually find things at Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, Old Navy, Target... And yoga pants, no matter where they come from, are my new best friend. I've ruined too many pair of nice jeans from crawling around on the floor and playing with my kids all day. Good luck!!

I have no help for you. I'm going on 4 years post baby, and I still don't know where to shop. I'm the opposite of you--instead of buying a few nice things I have a ton of CRAP!! You always look great--I'm sure a little baby spitup doesn't change that! :-)